Device for instructing in playing card games



y 7, 1940- H. THORNE 2.200.195

DEVICE FOR INsTRUcTIfie IN PLAYING CARD GAMES Filed 001:. 4, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 m I AQ Inventor LER soum VUL NERABLE Fig. I.

Atlornev H. THORNE DEVICE FOR INSTRUCTING IN PLAYING CARD GAMES May-7, 1940..

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 4, 1938 I nvenlor wmzzika/we Attorney May 7, 1940.

Fig. 2.

I V Al a sheds-sheet 5 4 had Attorney Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES DEVICE FOR INSTRUCTING IN PLAYING CARD GAMES Harold Thorne, London, England, assignor to Jack Goodson, London, England Application October 4, 1938, Serial No. 233,264

In Great Britain July 5, 1938 Claims. (01. 35-8) This invention relates to a device for instructingin playing card games, such as bridge.

Proposals have been made for playing the game of bridge wherein a predetermined set of hands is played and, which is so constructed as to enable the user after he has played the hands to ascertain whether his play, as compared with an experts determination of the play, is correct.

The known arrangement involves the use of a sheet marked with the cards of the four hands and on which sheet is the number of each card indicating the proper sequence of the play of the cards of that particular hand according to an experts determination.

: To play the game the sheet is placed in a suit able case having slots of a size to expose the cards and their numbers, each slot having a cover plate which normally renders both the card and its number invisible, but which can be moved first to expose the card and then the number in order to ascertain whether it has been correctly played. The object of this invention is to provide a game device which can be played by more than one person so that not only will the game have an educational value to the person actually playing the hand, that is the declarer but in playing the hand he will have an opponent.

A device for playing a two handed game of bridge according to'this invention comprises a 0' casing or board adapted to receive a sheet marked with the cards of the four hands to be played, the bid declaration or declarations for each hand according to the experts determination, and with indications for indicating to the opponent cards to be played from his partners (or opposite) hand which is not exposed, the casing or board having apertures, through which the cards can be exposed for play as required and so arranged that, except as to dummy they remain unseen until i 40 played, and including means for exposing to the player (declarer) and his opponent the respective hands to be played by them and to enable bids to be made by each, and means for exposing the bid to be made by both the declarers and his op- 1 ponents partners.

In order to indicate the card to be played from the unexposed hand, his partner (the opponent) is provided with promptings, which may be exposed on exposing his own card for play. Thus 50 the cards in the unexposed hand may be indicated by numbers or other playing indicia marked on the casing corresponding members or indicia being provided on the cards in the opponents hand. In the event of a trick being taken in the unexposed hand, the indication as to the card to be led for the next trick may alternatively be provided on the card, with which the previous trick was won. I

Each card and bid aperture in the casing may be provided with a cover piece, which preferably takes the form of a slide movable to a position to expose the card when required for play and preferably also to a second position to indicate that it has been played. The apertures for the cards of each hand and their corresponding bid 10 apertures may be set out as regards thecasing in the conventional positions of north-south, eastwest as used when demonstrating bridge hands. With this arrangement in order to prevent the declarer (south) and his opponent (West) from 1 seeing each others hands, shields may be; provided on the casing so that the cards in that hand can only be seen by the person playing them and not by the opponent.

The shield may consist of a flap hingedly connected to the casing so that it may be collapsed to an out of use position Where it lies flat against the front of the casing. The flap may conveniently be hinged to the board by. cloth hinges and have Concertina type or folding ends which serve to support the flap in its open position.

Various objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment which will be described. with reference to the accompanying drawings, the novel features being pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a preferred form of the invention, certain parts being cut away,

Fig. 2 is a section on the line II-II of Fig. 1, and'Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a detail.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises a baseboard I having an upstanding rim 2 so as to form a tray in which a sheet 3, bearing 4 indicia for playing a predetermined game of bridge, may be placed. The sheet 3 is located in its correct position by the upstanding rim 2.

A cover board 6 is hinged, preferably by hinges of cloth or other flexible material, to the base 5 board 5 so as to lie within the tray defined by the upstanding rim 2 and cover a sheet placed inthe tray.

This cover board 4 is provided with apertures through which the indicia onthe sheet 3 may be read. I'here are four sets of apertures, 5, 6, I, 8,

each set containing thirteen apertures, through which sets of indicia representing the cards held by each player can be viewed and also four apertures 9, Hi, Hand I2, through which indicia of the bids made by each player (when playing correctly as predetermined by an expert) can be viewed. An additional aperture !3 is provided to expose further information such as which player is the dealer and the state of the game existing before this particular hand is played.

Using the conventional notation in which the players are designated, south, west, north and east, south and north playing as partners against west and east, in the drawings, souths hand is shown through the set of apertures 5 and his bidding through the aperture 9; wests hand is shown through the set of apertures 6 and his bidding through the aperture I; norths hand is shown through the set of apertures I and his bidding through the aperture I I; and easts hand is shown through the set of apertures 8 and his bidding through the aperture 22. South is to be the declarer with north as dummy Whilst west and east are the opponents. The board is arranged ior two persons to play the hand taking the positions of south and west respectively.

On the sheet 3, souths hand is indicated in duplicate sets of indicia, I4, l5, which are located beneath the set of apertures 5. In each aperture of the set moves a slider it, shown in Fig. 3, comprising a trough shaped member the sides E6 of which engage the walls of the aperture and having a rectangular opening i? in its base. A finger piece 18 is provided whereby the slider may be moved.

This slider it when at the bottom of the aperture covers the corresponding indicium of the top set I and exposes that of the lower set i5 through the opening H, the indicium l5 thus being visible to the player. Movement of the slider l8 first covers the indicium l5 and. exposes the indicium i4 whilst further movement covers both indicia. The sliders when moved are received in recesses 39 forming extensions of the apertures 5.

Souths hand whilst visible to him is shielded from the observation of west by means of a shield i 9. This shield comprises an inclined plate It with side shields l9" and is hinged to the cover board 4 so that it can be folded flat on the board as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 or erected to form a canopy. The side shields H9" in the erected position enter slits 2B in the cover board. The position of the shield i9 is such that the indicia l5 are visible only to south whilst the indicia Hi when exposed by movement of the sliders. are visible to both players.

Wests hand is similarly indicated on the sheet 3 by duplicate sets of indicia 2t, 22 which are exposed alternatively through openings i! in sliders l6 moving in the apertures of the set 55. A shield 23, with side shields 23", similar to the shield l9 allows the lower set of indicia 22 to be hidden from south whilst visible to west and allows the upper set of indicia 25 when exposed to be visible to both players. This shield 23 is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 in collapsed position flat on the board 4.

Corresponding to each indicium of a card in wests hand, there is provided an indication 24 of the card which should be played by east. This indication is printed on the sheet 3 and is exposed through the corresponding aperture of the set 6 when the slider 56 is moved to expose one of the card indicia 2!. Alternative indications of easts play are provided in case the first card indicated has already been played. For example, in the hand shown, if west has played the nine of spades (following it with the card indicated by the numeral 5) and then plays the seven of spades, he cannot then play from easts hand the card indicated by the numeral 5 but must play that indicated by numeral 3.

North's hand is also indicated on the sheet 3 by 5 duplicate sets of indicia 25, 26 both of which can be covered by sliders l6 and either of which can be exposed by movement of the sliders H5 in the apertures of the set 1.

Easts hand is indicated by a set of indicia 21 located beneath the apertures in the set 8 and covered by sliders H3 or exposed through openings H in these sliders accordi to the position of the sliders. Each aperture in the set 8 is distinguished by one of the numbers 1 to 13 printed or otherwise marked on the cover board 4 and it is to these distinguishing marks that reference is made by the indications 24 exposed when west moves one of his sliders to expose a card.

Certain of the cards in easts hand may win tricks and the indicia representing these cards are accompanied by an indication 28 exposed to view when the card is played, of the next card to be played from easts hand. Such a card is shown in Fig. 1 indicated by the numeral 7. Where on the king of diamonds winning a trick, the lead by east will be the card indicated by the numeral ttlog! The sliders it moving in the apertures 5, 6, I, 8 enter recesses 39, 40, 4| and 42 forming extensions of the apertures, 5, 6, l and 8 respectively.

On the sheet 3 are bidding indicia 9', I0, ll,

I 2' which are located beneath the apertures 9, II], II, l2 and sliders 29 are arranged to move in these apertures so as to cover the indicia or to expose them as required. Each slider comprises a trough shaped member engaging the walls of the aperture and has a finger piece 30. The sliders when moved to expose the indicia pass within recesses 3|, 32, 33, 34 forming extension of the apertures 9, I, ll, I2 respectively.

The cover board 3 is provided with dials 35, 36, around which pointers 37, 38 may be moved to indicate the tricks won by each player.

The manner in which the board is used will now be clear. The sheet 3 is placed in the traylike portion and covered by the board 4. The sliders i6 are moved so that the hands of north and east are obscured and so that the indicia of souths hand and the indicia of West's hand are exposed to the corresponding player, the shields l9 and 23 being raised to prevent either player from seeing his opponents hand. The

bidding apertures are closed by the sliders 29.

If as shown in the drawings, south is thedealer,

he inspects his cards and makes his bid. West,

having seen his cards, then makes his bid and these two bids can be compared with the bid] posed by moving the slider in the bidding aperture l2. bidding continues until a settled contract is reached.

West then makes his initial lead (as shown, the

six of diamonds) by moving the corresponding slider to expose the duplicate representation 2| of this card, and the sliders it in the set of apertures I are moved to expose'the indicia 25 and South then makes his second bid and thus display norths hand asdummy. South can then play a card (the two of diamonds) from dummy by moving the corresponding slider to expose this card in the duplicate set of indicia 28.

When west moved the slider to play his card, he also exposed to himself an indication 24 of the card which should be played from easts hand.

This/ as shown is that marked '7 and west accordingly moves the slider in the aperture marked 7 to expose a card (the king of diamonds) in easts hand. South then plays to the trick by moving one of his sliders to expose a card (the three of diamonds) contained in the set of indicia l4. After this trick has been played, the

sliders l6 are moved further to cover the cards which have been played. I

-' to instructions on the card sheet or in a separate This trick has been taken by east andthe nex lead is determined by the indication 28 accompanying the winning card. In' this case, the numeral I is shown and west therefore leads from easts hand by moving the slider in the aperture marked ID of the set 8. The game is then continued, west playing both his own hand and easts hand and south playing his hand and dummys hand, until the hand has been completed.

It will be understood that any number of different hands may be played simply by changing the sheet so as to provide another set of hands and bids. The correct manner, in which the cards, according to the experts determinations, should be played, may be ascertained by reference of four players.

It will also be understood that the invention is not restricted to the details of the specific form described but includes such modifications as comewithin the ambit of the accompanying claims.

I claim: I v 1. In apparatus for playing a game of bridge comprising a board having apertures through which indicia on a sheet beneath the board may .be viewed, means for shielding the exposed indicia of a hand from the view of a person other than the player of that hand comprising a back member hinged to the board and side members hinged to the back member, said back and side members being foldable to lie fiat on said board and being movable to form a, canopy shielding the 0 said exposed indicia.

2. Apparatus as defined claim 1 in which the shielding means arranged in conjunction with the hands for which duplicate indicia are provided comprises a canopy having an inclined member overhanging the apertures through which the indicia of one set of the duplicate in- 5 dicia may be exposed, and side members arranged at each end of this set of apertures and supporting the inclined member.

3. Apparatus whereby a game of bridge may be played by two players comprising a sheet bearing. indicia of the cards in four hands, the indicia being induplicate for atleast two of the hands,

a casing in which the sheet may be located with the card indicia beneath apertures in the casing, cover plates for these apertures movable to obscure or expose selectively the indicia on the sheet and'shielding means in conjunction with each of the two hands for which duplicate indicia are provided on the sheet, the shielding means com: prising a member standing up from the casing go between the duplicate sets of indicia to conceal from one player a set of the indicia exposed to the other player.

4. Apparatus whereby a game of bridge may be played by two players comprising a sheet bear- :5 ing indicia of the cards in four hands, the indicia being in duplicate for at least two of the hands, and indicia, adjacent the card indicia of one of\ these hands, of the cards to be played from the opposite hand, a casing in which the sheet may be located with the indicia beneath apertures in the casing, cover plates for the apertures associated with the hands having duplicated card indicia movable to expose to view either indicium of each card or to obscure both said indicia,

' shielding means comprising members upstanding from the casing between the apertures corresponding to duplicated card indicia to prevent one of these duplicated sets of card indicia being seen other than by the player of that hand, and cover plates for the apertures associated with the other hands movable to expose or to obscure the card indicia of these hands.

5. Apparatus whereby a game of bridge may be played by two players comprising a sheet bearing indicia of the cards in four hands, the indicia being duplicated for at least two of these hands,

a board arranged to overlie the sheet and having apertures through whichthese indicia may be read, cover plates movable in relation to these apertures to expose or obscure these indicia, shielding means inconjunction with the hands for which duplicate indicia are provided on the sheets comprising members upstanding from the board and overhanging the apertures through I which the indicia of one set of the duplicate in- HAROLD THORNE. 

